Effectiveness Enhancement and Motivational Enhancement

Hannah Maslen asks the question as to whether there is an important difference between the enhancement of effectiveness and the enhancement of motivation; see marathon mice and the will to work . In this posting I will examine Maslen’s question and will conclude there is. I will further conclude even if the artificial enhancement of effectiveness is unacceptable that the artificial enhancement of motivation may be acceptable.

In order to examine this question we must first examine what is meant by motivation. Intuitively motivation simply means how much effort we put in to achieving our goals. The greater the effort we put in, the greater our motivation. What do we mean by our motivation? Is motivation something we possess in much the same way as we might possess such things as strength or intelligence? Let us accept there are some means of enhancing our strength and intelligence which are acceptable; after all athletes enhance their strength through training and scholars their intelligence through learning. Let us also accept motivation is something we possess in much the same way as we possess strength or intelligence. Prima facie it follows there are some ways of enhancing our motivation which should be perfectly acceptable.

The above is of course too simplistic. For the sake of argument let us now assume there are some means enhancing strength and intelligence which are unacceptable such as artificial means. If this is so we might agree with Leonard Kass,

“Yet in those areas of human life in which excellence has until now been achieved only by discipline and effort, the attainment of those achievements by means of drugs, genetic engineering, or implanted devices looks to be “cheating” or “cheap.” We believe – or until only yesterday believed – that people should work hard for their achievements. “Nothing good comes easily.” See Beyond therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Human Improvement .

Basically it seems to me that Kass’ argument might be summarised as follows. He argues that if we obtain certain goods without any real determination that in so doing we devalue determination in general. In addition, for his argument to work he must believe the damage this does to our determination is not offset by the value of any goods obtained. For the moment let us accept this argument. Let us also assume it is possible to artificially enhance our motivation. It follows there is an important difference between the enhancement of effectiveness and the enhancement of motivation. Enhancing our effectiveness devalues our motivation whilst it is hard to see how enhancing our motivation could devalue motivation. More generally if something is worth enhancing then it must have some value and enhancing this something can only enhance this value. Of course if such an enhancement devalues other goods this devaluation might supply us with a reason not to proceed with the proposed enhancement. For instance Kass believes it would be wrong to enhance our intelligence or strength by artificial means because these enhancements would devalue and eventually damage our motivation. Let us accept that increased determination is a good thing. It follows from the above that it would not be wrong to artificially enhance our determination and hence our motivation provided this enhancement does not damage some other goods. In the case of enhancing our motivation what sort of other goods might we damage? Our determination to be determined? It seems it would be possible for Kass to endorse artificially enhancing our motivations whilst at the same time maintaining it would be wrong to artificially enhance more general goods such as our strength or intelligence and still remain consistent. Personally I doubt that Kass would make such an endorsement.

What sort of objection to the above might an objector such as Kass raise? He might suggest that artificially enhancing someone’s motivations would damage her authenticity as a person. What does it mean to be authentic? Intuitively an authentic person is one who is true to her self. An authentic person is someone who is not easily swayed by short term emotions or the views of others. I have argued in previous posts that a person is defined by what she cares about, what she takes pride in. It follows that anyone who is a person must care about or love something. I would suggest how authentic a person is depends on how she acts with regard to what she cares about or takes pride in. Enhancing someone’s motivation, her determination, does not change what she cares about. Moreover enhancing someone’s motivation increases her disposition to act with regard to what she cares about. It follows enhancing someone’s determination does not damage her authenticity. Accepting the above means it might even be argued enhancing someone’s motivation does not damage her authenticity and might possibly enhance it.

However my objector might respond by pointing out I have been treating our motivation in a purely instrumental way. He might proceed to suggest our motivations form part of who we are. He might then maintain accepting the above means that artificially enhancing our motivations might still damage our authenticity as a person. I am inclined to accept our motivations are part of who we are. Our motivations might have both intrinsic and instrumental value to us. Personally I hope I am a reasonably determined person and take some pride in my determination. I would argue if someone is proud of some personal attribute then she must care about that attribute and as a result that attribute helps define her as a person. If someone fails to act in a determined way when she cares about something she will be ashamed of herself. Let us accept that our motivations are not purely instrumental but have some intrinsic value for us. Let us further accept that some people care about their motivations and that this means these motivations help to form them as persons. It follows our motivations can be part of our authentic self. Does this acceptance mean we shouldn’t artificially enhance our motivation? People seek to change themselves by enhancing themselves by training or learning. I can see of no reason why people changing themselves by these means will render themselves in-authentic. Perhaps, as suggested above, we shouldn’t do this by artificial means because doing so might damage our motivation. However I can see no reason why someone shouldn’t change herself by artificially enhancing her motivation because doing so might damage her authenticity. In practice I have some remaining doubts but perhaps these might be based on some unjustified arrogance on my part.

Meaning and Happiness

In a recent posting in practical ethics Hannah Maslen considers happiness meaning and well-being. Let us accept that happiness and meaning in life are both part of well-being. There is usually a positive correlation between happiness and meaning. Usually happy people have a more meaningful life and vice versa. However some research by Roy Baumeister, Kathleen Vohs, Jennifer Aaker and Emily Garbinsky shows this correlation is not always positive (1). Maslen wonders if when this occasional incompatibility occurs whether we must make a decision about which of these two goods to pursue. In what follows I will consider this question. I will however use a slightly different approach to what is meant by meaning in life.

Before examining Maslen’s question I must consider what is meant by meaning in life. Firstly I must make it clear I am not going to consider what a meaningful life is from some objective viewpoint. I am going to consider what living a meaningful life actually means to the person who lives that life. According to the researchers’ results meaningfulness involves doing things that express and reflect the self and in particular doing positive things for others. This involvement can increase someone’s stress, worries, and anxiety. Secondly meaningfulness involves being a giver more than a taker. Lastly meaningfulness integrates past, present, and future, and sometimes meaningfulness means feeling bad. I agree with Maslen that these results rule out a purely hedonistic life as a meaningful life. Moreover these results seem to be incompatible with a meaningful life being based on desire fulfilment. For as Maslen points out stress, worry and anxiety are associated with frustrated desire, rather than desire fulfilment. It might be thought that a meaningful life is one that includes a number of objective items, items such as friendship and good health. Personally I believe such items may well contribute to a meaningful life but that they do not define it.

I now want to return to a common thread of this blog. I want to suggest that in order for someone to have a meaningful life he must ‘care about’ or love something. Indeed I would go as far as to suggest that for someone, whose life is totally devoid of any ‘caring about’, he has a life totally devoid of any meaning and as a result is not really a person at all. He is simply a wanton, see (2). In what follows I will treat the terms ‘caring about’ and ‘loving’ as interchangeable in much the same way as Harry Frankfurt does. Someone who ‘cares about’ or loves something identifies himself with what he cares about and makes himself vulnerable to losses and susceptible to benefits depending upon whether what he cares about flourishes or is harmed (3). The researchers’ results showed meaningfulness involved doing things that express and reflect the self. Caring about something means identifying with what is cared about. Identification involves doing things that express and reflect the self. Secondly the researchers’ results showed that meaningfulness can increase someone’s stress, worries and anxiety. Caring about something makes someone vulnerable and so can also increase his stress, worries and anxiety. Lastly these results show meaningfulness integrates past, present, and future. According to Frankfurt caring about involves consistency, steadiness of behaviour, and some degree of persistence (4). It follows caring about must integrates past, present, and future to some degree. In the light of the above it appears accepting that, meaning is imparted to someone’s life by what he cares about or loves concurs very well with the researchers’ results.

Let us accept that meaning in someone’s life is dependent on what he loves or cares about. If someone’s beloved flourishes then he is susceptible to the benefits of this flourishing. He is happy. It is important to be clear that someone’s beloved can refer to things as well as people. Someone’s beloved might for instance be a cause, his religion, or a place. If someone’s beloved is harmed then he is harmed. He is unhappy. At times caring about or meaning is incompatible with our ideas about being happy. Some positive psychologists such as Martin Seligman might disagree. Seligman would incorporate meaning into the meaning of happiness, see PERMA . In such cases happiness seems to mean well-being. Such a meaning seems at odds with our intuitive ideas of happiness and in what follows ‘happiness’ will refer to these intuitive ideas. Let us return to Maslen’s question, must we sometimes make a decision about whether we should pursue happiness or meaning? I will now argue the question is meaningless because if meaning depends on what we love or ‘care about’ we cannot make such a decision.

We cannot make such a decision because we cannot make a decision to love. Someone cannot simply decide to love someone or something. According to Frankfurt the will of a lover is not free. On the contrary he, because of the very nature of loving, is captivated by his beloved and his love. The will of the lover is rigorously constrained. Love is not a matter of choice (5). It follows if meaning depends on what we love that we cannot simply choose to have less meaning in our lives in order to be happier. This conclusion has important consequences for any pursuit of happiness. This pursuit is limited at least for our intuitive ideas of happiness. This limitation means that whilst we may of course seek to modify our life in order to be happier, that these modifications cannot be based on consciously altering or lessening the meaning in our lives. Of course I accept that what matters, what we love or what has meaning, may change over time but this change is not a matter of our own volition. I also accept even if we cannot simply will love we can nonetheless sometimes situate ourselves in situations in which love might grow.

1. Roy Baumeister, Kathleen Vohs, Jennifer Aaker & Emily Garbinsky, 2013, Some key differences between a happy life and a meaningful life, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2013, volume 8(6)
2. Harry Frankfurt, 1999, Necessity, Volition, and Love. Cambridge University Press, page 114.
3. Harry Frankfurt, 1988, The Importance of What We Care About. Cambridge University Press, page 83.
4. Frankfurt, 1988, page 84.
5. Frankfurt, 1999, page 135.